News
November 11, 2023
Marking Veterans Day 2023 - A Letter from Dean Baernholdt
Colleagues:
Today is Veterans Day when we honor the many men and women who serve and have served in our country’s Armed Forces. As a preferred site for service members' graduate nursing education, we are proud of our many students who are active military personnel. Our faculty also includes four veterans who served with distinction: professors Richard Ridge (U.S. Navy), Richard Westphal (U.S. Navy), Gretchen Wiersma (U.S. Army), and Terri Yost (U.S. Army).
Every veteran deserves our deepest thanks and praise. They also deserve care that is uniquely tailored to their distinctive needs, as do their family members.
Today is Veterans Day when we honor the many men and women who serve and have served in our country’s Armed Forces. As a preferred site for service members' graduate nursing education, we are proud of our many students who are active military personnel. Our faculty also includes four veterans who served with distinction: professors Richard Ridge (U.S. Navy), Richard Westphal (U.S. Navy), Gretchen Wiersma (U.S. Army), and Terri Yost (U.S. Army).
Every veteran deserves our deepest thanks and praise. They also deserve care that is uniquely tailored to their distinctive needs, as do their family members.
"When clinicians take the time to ask questions about service as a routine part of our workflow, it matters. When we also acknowledge the impact of military service on family members, it has potential to make an incredible difference. So perhaps we might mark this day by committing to use the following more apt question recommended by award-winning professor Westphal: Have you or your family members ever served?"
Dean Marianne Baernholdt, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN
As care providers, many of ask our patients as a routine part of assessment, Have you ever served? We do this in part because veterans are at unique risk for a variety of health concerns: post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injuries, military sexual trauma, or fallout from dangerous exposures to weapons, chemicals, and infectious disease. They often have great familiarity with and easy access to guns, can struggle with reintegration after service, and be isolated and lonely. Veterans also have a 57% higher risk of suicide than those who haven’t served and commit suicide at rates more than 1.5 times the national average.
When clinicians take the time to ask questions about service as a routine part of our workflow, it matters. When we also acknowledge the impact of military service on family members, it has potential to make an incredible difference. So perhaps we might mark this day by committing to use the following more apt question recommended by award-winning professor Westphal:
When clinicians take the time to ask questions about service as a routine part of our workflow, it matters. When we also acknowledge the impact of military service on family members, it has potential to make an incredible difference. So perhaps we might mark this day by committing to use the following more apt question recommended by award-winning professor Westphal:
Have you or your family members ever served?
Such a question is an expression not only of care and concern but of awe and gratitude, too. Military service is both an individual act and a familial commitment.
Thank you for joining me in working to better serve all our veterans and their families at UVA, UVA Health, across the state, country, and around the world. And kudos to our own associate professor Wiersma, whose essay, "I joined the military on a whim; it was the best professional decision I ever made," is published in today's Daily Progress, and which you can read here.
Be well,
Thank you for joining me in working to better serve all our veterans and their families at UVA, UVA Health, across the state, country, and around the world. And kudos to our own associate professor Wiersma, whose essay, "I joined the military on a whim; it was the best professional decision I ever made," is published in today's Daily Progress, and which you can read here.
Be well,
Marianne Baernholdt, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN
Sadie Heath Cabaniss Professor of Nursing and Dean
Sadie Heath Cabaniss Professor of Nursing and Dean
Dean of Professional Nursing, UVA Health
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